By Staff Reports
(Honolulu)– Hawaiian Airlines has joined with interline partner Air China and China International Travel Service (CITS) to offer a new premium tour product designed to promote Hawai‘i vacations to the burgeoning outbound travel market in China.
In conjunction with CITS’s new product line, “Next Stop Hawai‘i, The Most Beautiful Place To Go,” Hawaiian has begun flying groups of Chinese visitors to Hawai‘i from Seoul Incheon International Airport. Incheon’s standing as a major hub for flight connections in Asia was a key factor in Hawaiian’s decision to launch service between Honolulu and Seoul in January 2011.
“We see great potential in China as a new source for visitors who enjoy coming to Hawai‘i and we are already carrying significant numbers on our flights from Seoul,” said Peter Ingram, Hawaiian’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer. “Partnering with CITS, the largest tourism enterprise in China, gives us tremendous insight and access to the market as we continue to diversify our business and develop our route network.”
According to the most recent visitor statistics released by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA), arrivals to Hawai‘i from China jumped 42.9 percent to 49,171 visitors in the first half of 2012. This upward trend is expected to continue, coupled by an increase in the marketing of Hawai‘i as a travel destination and improvements made to expedite the process for granting U.S. travel visas.
The CITS partnership follows other recent business development initiatives undertaken by Hawaiian to pursue the China outbound travel market.
In February, Hawaiian opened sales offices in Shanghai and Beijing to promote Hawaiian’s brand among travel providers and market the airline’s range of services to China consumers.
On July 15, Hawaiian boosted capacity on its Seoul-Honolulu route by 75 percent, increasing the frequency of its nonstop flights to daily service from four flights per week. The move added 40,000 new air seats annually to the market in part to accommodate the growing number of travelers making flight connections on Hawaiian from cities in Asia, particularly China.
This week Hawaiian is launching a Chinese-language website (www.HawaiianAirlines.com.cn) featuring travel information and eye-catching imagery to promote Hawai‘i’s brand among China travelers.
Hawaiian is also actively recruiting Mandarin-speaking flight attendants to better serve its growing influx of customers from China.